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Great Britian Ireland Beats US in Walker Cup

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Great Britian and Ireland came from behind Sunday at the Ocean Forest Golf Club to defeat the United States and successfully defend the Walker Cup for the first time in the events 79-year history.

Led by standouts Luke Donald, Nick Dougherty and Michael Hoey, GB&I won three of the four morning alternate shot matches, and then dominated in the afternoon singles session, taking six of the eight matches for a total winning score of 15-9.

Its even better than I dreamed it would be, GB&I captain Peter McEvoy said after it was complete. Its a grand achievement for our players.

In addition to captaining this year, McEvoy also led the 1999 squad to victory in Scotland. Of the players on that team, only Donald and Gary Wolstenholme returned for this edition.

Donald won both matches he played on Sunday, while Wolstenholme took strong American Nick Cassini 4-and-3 in the afternoon singles.

He was elated afterward.

Winning is a great feeling, Wolstenholme exclaimed. The Walker Cup represents everything about golf that is the best.

Unfortunately for the Americans, they will have to wait until 2003 for redemption. The Walker Cup will be contested that year in England at the Ganton Golf Club.

While they have now lost two years in a row, they still hold a dominating lead in the series, however. The U.S. is 30-6-1 against Great Britian and Ireland.

The following are final results from the 2001 Walker Cup, played at the Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga.: